Sunday, November 25, 2012

and you could tell because orange wood-tone had practically thrown up everywhere.

This was a "before" ... sort of.

I painted the trim the week we moved in but the walls were still two different colors of awful, the chandelier was so low that my husband kept hitting his head and those doors were terrible. Cheapy, hollow core - orange toned doors. Gross. I begged to keep the chandelier but the hubs said enough! Pssh, what does he know?! ;)

Moral of the story? The orange doors had to go! But we did the math - and by the time we replace and install each door it costs us about $80/door. No way was the hallway worth $400. You see, we're military -- which means we move ALL.THE.TIME. We finally took the plunge and bought a house - but we're battling that fine line between making the house something we're proud of vs. not putting too much money into the house, since we know we have to sell it. Get where I'm going?

So I did what any good DIY'er would do.

a little PAINT! ;)

I started with the walls ... a $5 gallon of grey Oops paint!

(Tip: they will 'tint' oops paint for you, I found light grey and had them add a bit to make it darker!)

Note: My sheen was "satin" - I would probably recommend using something more "glossy".

But isn't it lovely? (or at least a hundred times better than before?)

Now, I totally get that black isn't everyone's cup of tea. Believe me, I get it! I wasn't even sure it was mine, haha! BUT! I am now sold!! For less than $80 (including the new light fixture) and a few hours of my time, I was able to completely change the look of my hallway! That beats $400 in my book any day!{and there is no doubt in my mind that white wouldn't have looked nearly this good!} So for me -- black was a great choice!

and just because we all love a good before/after ... here you go one more time! ;)

I LOVE IT!

{and so does my husband, which is amazing!}

Price Breakdown:

Gallon of Oops Paint - $5

5 new Stainless hardware knobs - $40 ($8/each * 5)

Light Fixture - Lowe's ($27 with Lowe's military Discount)

2 Sample Paints - $6

Total: $78

So are you looking to upgrade those ugly doors in your house?

Sample cans of black paint is a great option!

So there you have it -- another $100 or less "room" makeover!
What do you think??

Update: I built the actual house using 1x10's, screws and a LOT of caulk (haha.) Young House Love has a GREAT Tutorial here - I just altered mine to make it more "boyish" without the roof, etc. They used 1x8's - but I had 1x10's in the garage -- either would work. Then I bought 4 legs and leg plates at Lowe's to add some height! If you don't feel like building yours from scratch-- I also just found this awesome tutorial using a cubby organizer ($12.99) from Target!

Now back to the furniture ...

I picked up everything at Hobby Lobby in the unfinished wood section. I made a couch, coffee table, twin bed, entertainment center with flat screen TV and a dining room Table. I paid $6.50 (I had fabric scraps, foam, paint and glue - so if you don't, your price might be a bit higher). However, if you were to buy your stuff brand new - you're looking at about $20/room. :/ and that was NOT in the budget! But six dollars and fifty cents. I can swing that. ;)

So here's the SIMPLE 'how to' to make your own dollhouse furniture!!
For cheap. :) Holla.

The living room

For the coffee table you'll need:

1 Pack of Finial Caps $1.47

1 unfinished wooden Rectangle $.79

Now you simply glue the finial caps on the Bottom and paint!

Total cost $2.25 (and save the other finial caps, you'll need them for the couch).

I used hot glue to "upholster" the twin headboard (half a rectangle) and then used stronger glue (E-6000) to attach the headboard to the long rectangle bed. For "feet" I used some misc. silver beads I had, but finial caps would work as well. I upholstered the mattress and pillow the same way I did the couch cushion! I still need to make a blanket - just haven't decided if I want to make it permanent or detachable.

The nightstand is a Hobby Lobby purchase (2.47+40% off).

I think this is my favorite part! The flat screen TV and Entertainment Hutch!

I found this little miniature Paper Mache box for .99 at Hobby Lobby.

A quick coat of black paint ...

Then I printed off a Superman Image to act as the show they are watching! ;)

I took a thin brush and painted the entertainment center...

I permanently attached the TV to the wall, but not the Entertainment Center.

The Super Hero Art may be my second favorite part of the whole house!

I bought the two frames for $1.40/each at Hobby Lobby in the dollhouse section, they were gold! Then I just spray painted them Metallic and added the Batman and Spider Man images that I printed from the Internet! I also used hot glue to permanently attach them to the wall.

So that's my Dollhouse Furniture on the cheap!

Note: I wasn't up for the task of making the chairs ($2.47/each), the Nightstand ($2.47) or the Kitchen set ($13.29) but I'm sure you could come up with something if you tried.

Now keep in mind that I made a Super Hero House for my boys, so I tried my best to make the furniture very masculine - in both the shape of the furniture and the color. However, you could very easily add lace, pinks, vintage fabrics, fun accessories, etc to make it much more girly! The sky is the limit really! I had to limit the accessories ... I don't think Spider Man cares much about Decorating or Crown Molding! ;) Barbie on the other hand -- she's all about it! ;) So go wild.

So what do you think? Think it looks simple enough to try?
Or would you rather just fork over the dough?
Be honest. ;)

Friday, November 9, 2012

If you're visiting for the first time, I'd love for you to come follow me on Facebook!

I mentioned the other day that I decided to build Wild Man a Super Hero House! He LOVES to play with doll houses, but the hubs wasn't too keen on buying him one. So I created my own version of a dollhouse -- one that is perfectly acceptable for boys. A loft apartment with a big city scape view. You know, right in the heart of all the action, far enough away from the bad guys! ;)

So here's the Super Hero House all finished!

Let's take a tour shall we?

I wanted it to look like a "big city loft" ... I needed it to be masculine.
In color. In design. No curves or girly lines. No pink or pastel. ;)